


Seeded

by hannahrhen



Series: Prompted [2]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Accidental Seduction, Erotic Confusion, Fruit, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-12
Updated: 2013-01-12
Packaged: 2017-11-25 05:56:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 589
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/635816
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hannahrhen/pseuds/hannahrhen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bruce succeeds—too well—at distracting the God of Mischief.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Seeded

**Author's Note:**

> From the prompt: _eating a pomegranate_
> 
> Assume this is before the Hannibal Lecter mask has been procured.

It was Bruce’s turn to babysit.

Loki was captured, clean-up beginning on streets below, and Thor was talking with Fury and Tony about how, exactly, to ship their prisoner back to Asgard. They agreed it needed to be done quickly, that any delay risked Loki’s changeable mind settling on a … “disadvantageous course of action,” as Fury had called it.

While Loki’s wrists were bound, and, therefore, Thor insisted, the bulk of his destructive magic sealed, none of them were certain of what he was still capable. So, they took turns sitting with him, distracting him—each one under the observation of several others, in case Loki’s wit sharpened.

Bruce, now in sweats Tony loaned him, took the low chair next to the corner into which Loki had been pressed, seated on the floor with knees at his chest. Bruce began working on the object in his hand. He didn’t look directly at the figure below him.

“What is that called?” Loki asked, fatigue weighting his voice.

“This?” Bruce held up the red-mottled, matte-skinned fruit. “It’s a pomegranate. You guys don’t have these?”

A little head shake. Loki watched as Bruce took the fruit between his hands, dug his thumbs through the tough skin to puncture it. Juice dribbled out, over the fruit’s surface, Bruce’s hands, and onto the floor. Bruce followed the trail with his eyes but couldn’t make himself give a crap.

Instead, he looked at the mess in his hands, looked at Loki’s curious expression, and lifted a stained thumb to his mouth. Then: “You have to use force to break them.” He tore further at the skin, scooped out a few of the slick, round seeds with experienced fingers.

He got an eye-roll for his trouble. “Clever.” A pause. “It looks messy. Is that usually how it’s eaten?”

The seeds slipped into Bruce's mouth, and he chewed quickly, swallowed. “No, there’s a whole ritual. But I find it works out well, for everyone, if I let the … the Other Guy show his strength—you know. Tear things apart. Just a little.”

At that, Loki’s interest clearly perked up—and Bruce’s wariness with it. The next question, was, of course, “So … you can let your demon out by choice? In increments?”

No, he didn’t like the word “demon,” but … whatever. Let Loki believe what he wanted. “Yeah, sort of. It helps, you know, if I let him—” And here he offered a dark little smile, one that his teammates would have called out of place, if they could see it from their vantage points. “— come out to play? Maybe it’s a little like your magic. It has to be reined in, or else it becomes uncontrollable.” His voice was low, meant only for one to hear. “Sometimes I wonder—what the Other Guy could do, really, if I just let him. If I gave up trying to control him. What he could tear apart,” he finished.

It was meant to be a threat. A reminder.

He glanced down at the fruit, gutted, exposed in his hand, and then looked toward Loki … but was unsettled by what he saw. Instead of a figure who was cringing in fear, or even slightly anxious … Loki's face was turned up to him, expression rapt. Like he could devour Bruce just as easily as a fingerful of red, slippery seeds.

Oh, shit.

Bruce stood up, stepped back, and turned to get Natasha, Steve—anyone—to relieve him. He didn’t have to look back to know Loki’s eyes followed him the whole time.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading, y'all! You can find me publicly hand-wringing over my writing, or fangirling over other people's, on Tumblr: <http://hannahrhen.tumblr.com/>


End file.
